No letters to the editor [LWN.net]

For the second week in a row, we have no "letters to the editor" page, since nobody sent us any letters. The reduction in readership caused by the subscription gate probably has a lot to do with that. Still, we would like to hear from you; if you have comments you would like to see published, please feel free to send them to letters@lwn.net.

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No letters to the editor

Posted Oct 31, 2002 2:19 UTC (Thu) by kbob (subscriber, #1770) [Link]

What's the point of writing a letter to the editor when we can just post comments here? Our comments are seen immediately by other readers, in the context of the original story.

No letters to the editor

Posted Oct 31, 2002 2:53 UTC (Thu) by euvitudo (subscriber, #98) [Link]

I, for one, believe that comments written as a letter to the editor seem to be more well thought out and written. I feel that the typical slashdot-style comment is a bit more emotional and, most of the time, cannot convey a well reasoned monologue. I am more inclined to read a letter to the editor more thoroughly than a comment after a story.

Letters also give the writer a chance to try to get emotions out of the way. (I said try.) They give more of a chance to do the research. Letters are also more visible, as comments typically get lost in loads of other comments.

Thanks for reading.

No letters to the editor

Posted Oct 31, 2002 12:23 UTC (Thu) by chrimble (guest, #977) [Link]

I have very much enjoyed reading the "Letters to the Editor" page in the past, but also have to agree that its function has been somewhat superceded by the "comments" feature.

The biggest difference for me though is that where I usually skip over the comments, I always read the letters. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a "Letters to the Editor/Selected Comments" hybrid in the future to highlight noteworthy comments, if this was possible/desirable...

No letters to the editor

Posted Oct 31, 2002 21:37 UTC (Thu) by lordsutch (subscriber, #53) [Link]

I think the Letters page might get more activity if it weren't embargoed with the rest of the Weekly Edition. Otherwise, if I send a letter to the editor today, very few people are going to see it for two weeks; by then, whatever I had to say has either been said somewhere else, or perhaps has been eclipsed by events.

Either that or run "Letters" separately on Fridays, so people can comment on the latest edition more readily (and keep it fresher); you could still embargo it to "free" release at the same time as the current week's edition.

No letters to the editor

Posted Oct 31, 2002 21:48 UTC (Thu) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

I've often thought about a separate /Letters area on the site which could carry letters relatively quickly, independently of the Weekly Edition. Even before subscriptions, I think the one-week delay imposed on most letters (people tended to write them on Thursdays) was a bit of a disincentive. One more thing for the list...